Arthroscopic devices and methods
AssigneeRELIGN Corporation
InventorsAaron Germain, Kyle Klein, Jan Echeverry
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An arthroscopic or other surgical cutter has features which facilitate fabrication by ceramic molding. The arthroscopic cutter includes a cutter body having a longitudinal axis and a window, an interior channel, and a plurality of cutting edges extending radially outwardly from an outer surface thereof. The features include non-helical, longitudinally aligned cutting edges, controlled thicknesses of the cutting edges, controlled heights of the cutting edges, controlled areas of the windows, controlled diameters of the internal channels, controlled rake angles of the cutting edges, and other parameters.
Claims20
A method of fabricating a ceramic cutter body having an outer surface, a longitudinal axis, a distal cutting portion with cutting edges, and a proximal shaft portion with a window that opens to an interior channel, said method comprising:
- providing an injection mold with a mold cavity configured to form the outer surface of the ceramic cutter body, a first core pin which is configured to form the window of the ceramic cutter body, a second core pin which is configured to form the interior channel;
- injecting a flowable ceramic material into the mold cavity to form the outer surface of the ceramic cutter body;
- removing the first core pin from the mold to leave a void in the ceramic cutter body which forms the window;
- removing the second core pin from the mold to leave a void in the ceramic cutter body which forms the interior channel;
- and
- separating at least first and second components of the mold components to thereby allow release of the ceramic cutter body from the mold cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.